Patagonia Black Hole Mini MLC Travel Backpack Review
It's more comfortable, expansive, and versatile compared with the other travel backpacks we tried
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The Patagonia Black Hole Mini MLC is the best travel backpack I tried because it combines organization, comfort, versatility, and sturdiness.
It was a close race against a few other contenders, but these factors helped the Patagonia bag edge out the rest: It has mesh pockets so you can easily see what’s inside. Lots of slots and cubbies, especially in the outermost “business” compartment, meant that my gear wasn’t free-floating all over the place, especially when I was traveling through a bustling airport. (MLC stands for "Maximum Legal Carry-On.") That portion also unfurls partly rather than opening like a book, so you don’t have to sweat spilling contents.
Price: $169
Where to buy: Patagonia
Dimensions: 12.25x19.5x6 in.
Weight: 2.7 pounds
Claimed capacity: 26 liters
Construction: Recycled polyester
Tuckable pack sleeves: Yes
External bottle sleeve: No
Shoulder carry: Yes
Waist strap: No
Eyeglass sleeve: Yes
Extras: Keychain loop
The oversized laptop sleeve was large enough to hold both my MacBook Air and iPad Pro, plus a book and magazine. But if you really stuff all your gear in this pack, it’s barely going to fit under the seat of a plane. That said, if you pack less so it can fit there, it should still hold enough to work as an overnight bag. It’s an especially comfy carry with wide, strong backpack straps and a chest clasp that’ll adjust to many different torso lengths, making it versatile across different shapes and sizes.
The backpack’s shiny and rugged exterior is made from 100 percent recycled ripstop polyester and seems too playful for a buttoned-up office. But it laughed off rain showers, and its overlarge grab handles at the top and side made it easy to tug out from under a seat and slide my arms through the straps. Despite not having a waist strap, I even found it fine dashing around town for over an hour of carry time. (See the Incase pack for another comfortable option without a waist belt.) It’s a big bag, but its versatility makes it multipurpose. It’s a do-a-lot-of-things, travel/commuter, haul-your-Greenmarket-groceries bag.
Bonus: It has a slot-through for sliding onto the telescoping handle of your roll-aboard carry-on bag, so you can roll two bags at once through an airport. And it has a shoulder strap, though the pack is too ungainly to carry across your body when it’s fully laden.
See our review of the best travel backpacks for more information, including how we evaluated them. Check out the other travel backpacks we considered here:
The Patagonia Black Hole easily accommodated all of my gear. But if I packed it to the brim, I might have trouble fitting it underneath a plane seat.
